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When Android Automotive goes in the dash, Google wins — and automakers lose data

You've gotta hand it to Google for the way the Silicon Valley tech giant has made indelible inroads into the car on multiple fronts. The most obvious is with its pioneering self-driving car technology that's caused car companies to get their act together on autonomous vehicles — and also collaborate with Google. Google has more directly extended its influence and data-mining capabilities into the car with its Android Auto smartphone-projection platform that most major automakers have adopted along with Apple's CarPlay. And now it's preparing to dig even deeper into dashboards by deploying its open-source operating system, Android Automotive, beginning with Audi and Volvo. Volvo recently announced that its next-generation Sensus infotainment system will run Android Automotive as an OS and include Google's Play Store for cloud-based content, Maps for navigation and Google Assistant for voice recognition, which can even command a car's climate control. By embedding Google in the dash, Volvo says owners will get an improved connected experience. "Bringing Google services into Volvo cars will accelerate innovation in connectivity and boost our development in applications and connected services," Volvo senior vice president of R&D Henrik Green said in a statement. "Soon, Volvo drivers will have direct access to thousands of in-car apps that make daily life easier and the connected in-car experience more enjoyable." Having Android Automotive onboard could benefit drivers — and provide a big win for Google, since it opens a deep and lucrative new data-mining vein for the company. But it's a wave of a white flag for car companies when it comes to delivering their own cloud-based content and services. It also represents a massive data giveaway and, for Audi, a reversal of earlier reservations about letting Google get too much access to car data. Not long after Android Auto and Apple CarPlay were introduced in 2014 and most automakers eagerly embraced the technologies, several German automakers second-guessed their decision when they realized what was at stake: data. At a conference in Berlin in 2015, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said car owners "want to be in control of their data, and not subject to monitoring." A few months earlier, Stadler stated that "the data that we collect is our data and not Google's.

Volvos will brake for bicyclists with new detection technology

Anyone who pedals a bicycle knows that one of the biggest dangers to riders is a motorized vehicle - Volvo estimates that nearly 50 percent of all cyclists killed in European traffic have collided with a car. In the United States alone, 618 riders lost their lives in bicycle/motor vehicle crashes in 2010, and the number of injuries surpassed 52,000.
To help drop those numbers, Volvo has just announced Cyclist Detection with full auto brake - a technology that detects and automatically applies a vehicle's brakes when a cyclist swerves in front of a moving car. The basic components of the system include a radar unit integrated into the front grille, a camera fitted in front of the interior rear-view mirror and a central control unit. The radar is tasked with seeing obstacles in front of the vehicle and calculating distance, while the camera is responsible to determine what the object is. The central control unit, with rapid processing capabilities, monitors and evaluates the situation.
The technology, which will be sold bundled with its Pedestrian Detection and called Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection, will automatically apply full braking when both the radar and camera confirm a pedestrian or cyclist are in the immediate path of the vehicle. According to the automaker, the technology will be offered on the Volvo V40, S60, V60, XC60, V70, XC70 and S80 models from mid-May in 2013.

Driveable Volvo V70 wagon built from 400,000 Lego pieces

We've seen life-size Lego vehicles before, but a Swedish man has created the ultimate brick-built car. That's because David Gustafsson's 1:1 scale Volvo wagon actually drives. Volvo recently shared some photos from the Ecar Expo in Gothenburg, Sweden, where the Lego car was on display. One would think that to undertake such a project it would be easiest to re-create an older Volvo, like a 240 or 740 wagon. After all, those were so boxy they earned the nickname Turbo Bricks as a term of endearment from enthusiasts. Instead, Gustafsson chose to replicate his own V70 wagon, a third-generation model built from 2008-16, which has no shortage of complex curves to replicate. Most life-size Lego replicas are static displays, never meant to move. Most don't even have interiors. Gustafsson's Volvo, on the other hand, not only features a full interior, but has doors that swing open, a gear selector that clicks into various positions, and climate control knobs that turn.  The fun doesn't end there. The Lego V70 has side mirrors that pivot, just like the real thing, as well as active headlights that swivel along with the front wheels when the steering wheel turns. The piece de resistance is the fact that this Volvo actually drives, thanks to an electric motor and battery pack. Speeds must be kept low, of course, but it can start, move, steer and brake via a remote control. The Volvo's only non-Lego parts are the wheels and tires, powertrain and a metal frame. It took Gustafsson over a year and over 400,000 pieces to build the car. He was a winner of the Lego Masters competition in 2020, through which he won the majority of the pieces. According to Klyker, the combined weight of the bricks tipped the scales at 1.2 tons, but the win gave Gustafsson the ability to fulfill a lifelong dream of building a full-size car out of Lego. With the help of Volvo Cars, Gustafsson's re-creation will soon begin a tour across Sweden. It will visit various events across the country from February 22 to August 4.